Validation of positioning accuracy is very important for assessment of high resolution satellite performance, which can be used as the reference of space optical remote sensor design. For stereo imagery, the general positioning accuracy assessment method can evaluate the positioning accuracy of target point but not the geometric size error of the observed scene. In combination with the circular error probability calculation, the positioning accuracy of a variety of points in the stereo images of WorldView-2 is contrasted and a geometric performance assessment method about geometric size of the observed scene is put forward, which shows that the difference between the two image positioning accuracy is about 47.2764 meters similarly and the geometric size error is only 3.309128 meters. This method is applicable to assessment the performance about geometric size when there is no large scale map or ground control point.

Freeform surfaces have advantages on balancing asymmetric aberration of the unobscured push-broom imager. However, since the conventional paraxial aberration theory is no longer appropriate for the freeform system design, designers are lack of insights on the imaging quality from the freeform aberration distribution. In order to design the freeform optical system efficiently, the contribution and nodal behavior of coma and astigmatism introduced by Standard Zernike polynomial surface are discussed in detail. An unobscured three-mirror optical system with 850 mm effective focal length, 20°× 2° field of view (FOV) is designed. The coma and astigmatism nodal positions are moved into the real-FOV by selecting and optimizing the Zernike terms pointedly, which has balanced the off-axis asymmetric aberration. The results show that the modulation transfer function (MTF) is close to diffraction limit, and the distortion throughout full-FOV is less than 0.25%. At last, a computer-generated hologram (CGH) for freeform surface testing is designed. The CGH design error RMS is lower than λ/1000 at 632.8 nm, which meets the requirements for measurement.

For large-aperture optical telescope, compared with the performance of azimuth in the control system, arc second-level jitters exist in elevation under different speeds' working mode, especially low-speed working mode in the process of its acquisition, tracking and pointing. The jitters are closely related to the working speed of the elevation, resulting in the reduction of accuracy and low-speed stability of the telescope. By collecting a large number of measured data to the elevation, we do analysis on jitters in the time domain, frequency domain and space domain respectively. And the relation between jitter points and the leading speed of elevation and the corresponding space angle is concluded that the jitters perform as periodic disturbance in space domain and the period of the corresponding space angle of the jitter points is 79.1″ approximately. Then we did simulation, analysis and comparison to the influence of the disturbance sources, like PWM power level output disturbance, torque (acceleration) disturbance, speed feedback disturbance and position feedback disturbance on the elevation to find that the space periodic disturbance still exist in the elevation performance. It leads us to infer that the problems maybe exist in angle measurement unit. The telescope employs a 24-bit photoelectric encoder and we can calculate the encoder grating angular resolution as 79.1016'', which is as the corresponding angle value in the whole encoder system of one period of the subdivision signal. The value is approximately equal to the space frequency of the jitters. Therefore, the working elevation of the telescope is affected by subdivision errors and the period of the subdivision error is identical to the period of encoder grating angular. Through comprehensive consideration and mathematical analysis, that DC subdivision error of subdivision error sources causes the jitters is determined, which is verified in the practical engineering. The method that analyze error sources from time domain, frequency domain and space domain respectively has a very good role in guiding to find disturbance sources for large-aperture optical telescope.

The article describes the technology of production of large-sized multicomponent optical systems of different function. All stages of a production cycle are considered: assembly of separate units of optical components, including aspherical and off-axis mirrors; preliminary assembly and adjustment of all system; final adjustment of optical system. Modern computer-controlled methods of testings and adjustment of multicomponent optical systems, using the examples of production of such systems at JSC LZOS, are described.

Large X-ray telescopes for future observatories need to combine a big collecting area, meaning thin mirrors with large diameter, with good angular resolution. Structures have to be stiff enough to guarantee the correct profiles and positioning of such mirrors. Due to the mass limits of the launching rockets, lightweight materials and configurations are required.. The Slumped Glass Optic (SGO) group of the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial physics (MPE) is developing the indirect slumping technology to comply with this need. This technique foresees the shaping at high temperature of thin glass foils, originally flat, to Wolter I design X-ray mirror segments, by using suitable moulds. During the thermal cycle inside an electrical oven the glass viscosity is such reduced that it allows its bending onto the mould. So the mould’s shape is replicated while still maintaining the original micro-roughness of the glass on the non-contact side that is of fundamental importance for X-ray reflections. This replication process is particularly suitable for the manufacturing of several identical optical elements, which must successively be coated with the necessary reflective layer and then aligned and integrated into supporting structures. Numerous aspects of the technology have been studied in the past, such as the selection of mould and glass materials, and the corresponding optimization of the thermal cycle parameters. During the last year, we focused on different process set-ups. The current results and status of activities will be presented in the paper.

Compact off-axial two-mirror fore objective with an ultra wide ground coverage and for spaceborne pushbroom imaging spectrometers is studied and designed. Based on Gaussian optics and Young's formulas, the approach to determine its initial structural parameters is presented. In order to meet the required performance, freeform surfaces are used to increase the degree of freedom of our optimization. And the impact of various X-Y polynomials on its pupil aberration is analyzed for elimination of too large smile effect. As an example, an off-axis two-mirror fore telescopic objective with field of view of 108° across-pushbroom direction, F number of 10, focal length of 34 mm and working wavelength range from 0.27 to 2.4 μm is optimally designed, which both the primary and the secondary mirrors have freeform surface. The designed lens has many advantages of simple and compact structure, imagery telecentricity, near diffraction-limited imaging quality, and small smile effect.

Optical systems such as telescopes are very complex, and their model usually with the uncertainty. To deal with the uncertainty of adaptive optics system and improve system robust stability, the mixed sensitivity H-infinity control has been introduced to design system controller. In order to testify the validity, wavefront aberration correction capability, as well as the robust stability, has been compared between the mixed sensitivity H-infinity controller and the classic integral controller. The computer simulation results demonstrate that the system with the mixed sensitivity H-infinity controller, while can’t guarantee a better correction performance, has greater robust stability than the one with the classic integral controller. That is to say, greater robust stability is achieved at the expense of the correction capability in the system with H-infinity controller. Moreover, the greater the uncertainty is, the more proceeds the mixed sensitivity H-infinity controller will produce. It proves the efficiency of the mixed sensitivity H-infinity controller in dealing with the uncertainty of adaptive optics system.

Binary optics can be used to increase optical performances, decrease size and weight, and decrease systems costs in numerous applications. By means of hybrid diffractive-refractive, a switch-zoom optical system of catadioptric large aperture ground-based photoelectric detection is designed. The characteristic of the system is that it is a compact optical system without moving parts which can get two focal lengths. And the quality of image approaches the diffraction limited. Ritchey-Chrétien (R-C) mirror and a field lens are common for long-focus system and short-focus system. Two refract groups transmitting optical system are used for zooming. In order to satisfy the demand of energy regulation, it is designed afocal beam between field lens and later refract optical system. Filter and variable density plate are placed in it to guarantee the imaging quality. The focal length is 3750mm and F number is 7.5 for the long-focus system, and the focal length is 1850mm and F number is 3.75 for the short-focus system. Former part and later lens of the system are both perfect imaging. They can be fabricated and detected independently. So the design demand can be satisfied better and the imaging quality can be improved.

Diffractive optical system can be a favorable choice for large-aperture space telescope to reduce the mass and size of image system. To meet the demand of large-aperture, high efficiency, lightweight diffractive optic for high resolution remote sensing, a 200 mm diameter, 20 μmthick, 4-level diffractive membrane fabricated is shown to have over 62% diffraction efficiency into the +1 order, with 0.051 efficiency RMS. Over 66% diffraction efficiency is achieved for a 100 mm aperture membrane, with 0.023 efficiency RMS. The membrane thickness uniformity control is discussed and 8 nm wave front error RMS is achieved in 100 mm diameter.

This paper analyzes the modulation transfer function of three sub-mirror sparse aperture optical system (Golay3) among the low contrast with the central part, the side lobe peak and the sub-mirror aperture. It is shown that the sparse aperture system can be achieved higher frequency information while the optical imaging system is designed and the side lobe is moved or low contrast of the central part is reduced or contrast of the higher frequency part is increased by changing the position of sub mirrors or size of surrounded apertures.

Incoherent Coincidence Imaging (ICI), which is based on the second or higher order correlation of fluctuating light field, has provided great potentialities with respect to standard conventional imaging. However, the deployment of reference arm limits its practical applications in the detection of space objects. In this article, an optical aperture synthesis with electronically connected single-pixel photo-detectors was proposed to remove the reference arm. The correlation in our proposed method is the second order correlation between the intensity fluctuations observed by any two detectors. With appropriate locations of single-pixel detectors, this second order correlation is simplified to absolute-square Fourier transform of source and the unknown object. We demonstrate the image recovery with the Gerchberg-Saxton-like algorithms and investigate the reconstruction quality of our approach. Numerical experiments has been made to show that both binary and gray-scale objects can be recovered. This proposed method provides an effective approach to promote detection of space objects and perhaps even the exo-planets.

An imaging system is constructed by atmosphere turbulence and ground-based telescope when the latter is used to observe a space object. The wavefront measurement produced by adaptive optics system can be used to estimate the point spread function (PSF) of the imaging system since it contains the wavefront aberration information of the light from the object. But the detector noise of the wavefront sensor (WFS) will inevitably bring estimation error. Based on the statistical theory, a method is presented to improve the PSF estimation accuracy by eliminating the noise error from the wavefront measurement. The numerical simulation shows that the estimation error of this method could be lower than 10%. It also indicates that the higher the signal-noise ratio (SNR) of the WFS is, the more frames of the wavefront measurements are used, and the bigger the Fried constant is, the more accurate the estimation will be. The work in this paper can be applied to performance evaluation of imaging system, deconvolution of AO images, as well as photometric analysis of space object.

Large mirror's support position plays a very important role in optical system's wave-front error. This paper took a Φ1.2m diameter primary mirror as an example and introduced the method of integrated opto-mechanical optimization analysis, then structure's parametric model in Proe, finite element's parametric model in Patran, structure analysis in Nastran and opto-mechanical coupling analysis in Sigfit were integrated as a fully automatic process in Isight by use of command streams and result documents produced by these soft wares. After the process was established and verified, automatic gradient searches of primary mirror's optimal support position were conducted using optimizer embedded in Isight. The optimization objective is the minimum of surface error's RMS and the optimization variables are support positions. New searches can easily be conducted repeatedly after mirror's model is modified in the structure parameter document. Because of the search process is fully automatic, manpower and computing time are greatly saved. This example also provides a good reference for problems in opto-mechanical fields.

For space object, intensity correlation is a high-resolution imaging method and it has favorable developing prospects. But the existing intensity correlation imaging focuses more on the second order intensity correlation combined with phase estimation. The absence of phase information brings out problems like twin images and limitations for low brightness and irregular object, which has trapped its progress in imaging. Instead of estimation, higher order or multi-detector correlation can directly measure the phase and avoid the complicated estimation process and extra error it introduces. Sensitive to measurement noise, the feasibility of multi-detector intensity correlation imaging for space object is discussed here. Also, the SNR of the measurement and reconstructed image quality is to be compared by adding the detectors and available improvements are proposed in this paper.

In order to improve the dynamic stiffness of telescope mount, the accuracy of aiming and stability of optical system, a topology optimization method based on the theory of variable density and taking maximum stiffness as objective function is studied. In the topology optimization analysis of elevation ring, one of the most important members of the telescope mount, two kinds of structural are designed: one is a traditional plate welding structure and the other is a combination of plate welding and truss welding. Furthermore, the stiffness and modal performance of the elevation ring in different performances are analyzed and compared. The results show that in meeting the strength and stiffness of the premise, the mass of elevation ring with plate welding and truss welding is 7.00T and the moment of inertia is 11.94 t•m². What`s more, the total deformation in the horizontal direction and the zenith direction are 6.70μm and 55.86μm, respectively; the stress is within stress range of material's promise; the modal is 105.9Hz.Compared with the traditional structural with plate welding, this new structural design approached to ensure the dynamic stiffness while effectively reducing its own weight with reduction rate 10.7% and moments of inertia with reduction rate 12.3%. This new structural of plate welding and truss welding has obvious advantages in lightweight design. This new design method based on topology optimization will provide efficient help to later components design of the telescope mount.

The sparse-optical-synthetic-aperture systems enlarge the aperture and increase the spatial resolution of telescope system via several sub-apertures distributed in specific way. The difficulty of its realization lies in detecting and correcting co-phase errors of the sub-apertures. This paper proposed the method of multi-spectral modulation detection of co-phasing errors for sparse-optical-synthetic-aperture systems. The method can detect the errors via phase modulation on a sub-aperture in the situation of different wavelengths. Firstly, this paper introduced the theory and implementation process of the method in detail. Then the paper analyzed the detection performance of the method and the influence of the sub-apertures structure on detection performance based on a three-sub-aperture system. These results show that the method can accurately detect the sub-apertures' co-phasing errors of the sparse-optical-synthetic-aperture systems. Compared with the current methods, the method proposed in this paper has many advantages, such as faster detection speed and wider detection range.

The optical multi-aperture imaging system is an effective way to magnify the aperture and increase the resolution of telescope optical system, the difficulty of which lies in detecting and correcting of co-phase error. This paper presents a method based on stochastic parallel gradient decent algorithm (SPGD) to correct the co-phase error. Compared with the current method, SPGD method can avoid detecting the co-phase error. This paper analyzed the influence of piston error and tilt error on image quality based on double-aperture imaging system, introduced the basic principle of SPGD algorithm, and discuss the influence of SPGD algorithm’s key parameters (the gain coefficient and the disturbance amplitude) on error control performance. The results show that SPGD can efficiently correct the co-phase error. The convergence speed of the SPGD algorithm is improved with the increase of gain coefficient and disturbance amplitude, but the stability of the algorithm reduced. The adaptive gain coefficient can solve this problem appropriately. This paper’s results can provide the theoretical reference for the co-phase error correction of the multi-aperture imaging system.

Thermal blooming effect of gas on laser propagation can seriously degrade performance of far-field beam quality and energy distribution. Numerical simulation is carried out to study the influences of thermal blooming on laser propagation in line pipes. A physical model of thermal blooming effect of gas on laser propagation in an aspirating pipe is established. Axial flow and suction in the outlet are used to attenuate the thermal blooming effect. Based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, stable calculation of flow field is carried out first, then the optical field and the fluent field is coupling calculated by means of user defined function (UDF). The results show that radial flow is enhanced in the aspirating pipe and the index of refraction gradient caused by thermal blooming effect is decreased. It is indicated that the beam quality of the outlet is improved compared with the pipe model without aspirating. The optical path difference (OPD) distribution of the outlet is analyzed and decomposed by Zernike polynomials. It is shown that the defocus item of 4m aspirating pipe is decreased more than an order of magnitude compared with the 4m pipe without aspirating.

Micro-structure optical elements are gradually applied in modern optical system due to their characters such as light weight, replicating easily, high diffraction efficiency and many design variables. Fresnel lens is a typical micro-structure optical element. So in this paper we take Fresnel lens as base of research. Analytic solution to the Point Spread Function (PSF) of the segmented Fresnel lens is derived based on the theory of optical diffraction, and the mathematical simulation model is established. Then we take segmented Fresnel lens with 5 pieces of sub-mirror as an example. In order to analyze the influence of different offset errors on the system’s far-field image quality, we obtain the analytic solution to PSF of the system under the condition of different offset errors by using Fourier-transform. The result shows the translation error along XYZ axis and tilt error around XY axis will introduce phase errors which affect the imaging quality of system. The translation errors along XYZ axis constitute linear relationship with corresponding phase errors and the tilt errors around XY axis constitute trigonometric function relationship with corresponding phase errors. In addition, the standard deviations of translation errors along XY axis constitute quadratic nonlinear relationship with system’s Strehl ratio. Finally, the tolerances of different offset errors are obtained according to Strehl Criteria.

The technology of integrating mechanical FEA analysis with optical estimation is essential to simulate the gravity deformation of large main mirror and the thermal deformation such as static or temperature gradient of optical structure. We present the simulation results of FEA analysis, data processing, and image performance. Three kinds of support structure for large primary mirror which have the center holding structure, the edge glue fixation and back support, are designed and compared to get the optimal gravity deformation. Variable mirror materials Zerodur/SiC are chosen and analyzed to obtain the small thermal gradient distortion. The simulation accuracy is dependent on FEA mesh quality, the load definition of structure, the fitting error from discrete data to smooth surface. A main mirror with 1m diameter is designed as an example. The appropriate structure material to match mirror, the central supporting structure, and the key aspects of FEA simulation are optimized for space application.

The structure parameters of fast-steering mirror (FSM) might change with time goes by. In order to reduce the impact of this change on the output performance of FSM system, an incomplete derivative fuzzy PID control system is proposed. This control system can effectively improve the time domain quality of FSM system by optimizing the PID control parameters online. First, the dynamic model of FSM is established. Second, the initial parameters of the incomplete derivative PID control system are designed according to the frequency domain quality of the closed-loop system. Then, the rules and related factors of the fuzzy controller are designed on the basis of the initial parameters. Finally, simulation experiments are carried out. The results show that the incomplete derivative PID control system has shorter adjustment time, less overshoot and lower dependence on the parameters of FSM when compared with the fixed parameters PID control system.

To reduce the surface deformation of a space remote sensor mirror in space environments, a flexible supporting structure of space mirror is designed to improve the surface accuracy of mirror under operating conditions, making the mirror in good thermal dimensional stability and the structure stiffness meet the requirements of mechanics at the same time. Using the finite element method to do simulation analysis about the surface accuracy and structural strength and dynamic stiffness of the mirror assembly under the force-heat coupling state. Simulation results show that the first-order natural frequency of the mirror component is 393.73Hz, and the RMS values of 1g gravity respectively reach 8.920nm, 1.856nm, 4.516nm; under 1g gravity and 4 degrees centigrade rising coupling state in three directions, the RMS values respectively reach 10.02nm, 3.312nm, 5.718nm, the results meet the design specifications requirement that the RMS value less than λ/50 (λ=632.8nm). Finally, the analysis of the random vibration was carried out on the mirror components, results show that the mirror and its supporting structure was designed reasonable which can meet the requirements of space applications.

The thermal problem is one of the important research contents of the design and operation about giant radio antenna. This kind of influence to the antenna has been concerned in the astronomy field. Due to the instantaneous temperature load and uncertainty, it is difficult to accurately analysis and effectively control about its effect. It has important significance to analyze the thermal problem of giant radio antenna to its design and operation. The research of solar cookers and temperature field on Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) were preceded in detail. The tests of temperature distribute about 30 meters antenna in Mi-yun observatory station were performed. The research work including the parameters related to the sun, the flow algorithm of telescope site, mathematical model of solar cooker, analysis results of temperature field and corresponding control strategy, the temperature distribution test of 30 meters model. The results showed that: solar cookers could be weakened and controlled effectively of FAST. This work will provide a reference to design and operation of the FAST and same big antenna. It has certain theory significance, engineering significance and application value.

Through introducing transformed pupil vector and shifted center of aberration fields vector into the nodal aberration expansions of an axially symmetric optical system, the aberration expression in third order of an off-axis optical system and misaligned off-axis optical system are detailed. Nodal aberration characteristics of misaligned off-axis optical system are revealed only by analyzing the pupil decentration vector, aberration fields shifted vector and the aberration coefficients of the axially symmetric optical system. Actually, it is well demonstrated that the 3rd spherical aberration, 3rd coma, 3rd astigmatism in a misalignment off-axis system are comparable to the aberrations in a misalignment axially symmetric system. Otherwise it will not only induced constant 3rd spherical aberration but also constant 3rd coma and 3rd astigmatism over the field of view, when aligned an off-axis optical system elements with error axial spacing.

In the spectral imaging system, random jitter and posture change of the aircraft generated random image motion, and flight of aircraft caused forward image motion. Both of image motion can cause image blur in a longer exposure time, which need for image motion compensation. Due to limited field of view of the optical system, limited size and weight, a stable FSM (Fast Steering Mirror) was used for random image motion compensation and a compensation FSM was used for forward image motion compensation. In the random image motion compensation, inertial sensors were used for measuring the random jitter and the posture change of the aircraft. As the advantages and disadvantages for the gyroscope and inclinometer, we used data fusion of the two sensors to complementary advantages with closed-loop mode filter data based on the frequency domain. In this way, we got high linearity, little drift, high bandwidth and little electrical noise inertial measurement sensors. On the other hand, the motion of the compensation mirror was broken down to the amount of displacement within the time required for each interrupt movement. Under strict timing control, macro forward image motion compensation was realized in the exposure time. The above image motion compensation methods were applied to actual spectral imaging systems, aerial experiment results show that image motion compensation obtained good results and met the remaining image motion compensation image error was not more than 1/3 pixel.

Laser guide stars (LGSs) increase the sky coverage of astronomical adaptive optics systems. But spot array obtained by Shack-Hartmann wave front sensors (WFSs) turns extended and elongated, due to the thickness and size limitation of sodium LGS, which affects the accuracy of the wave front reconstruction algorithm. In this paper, we compared three different centroiding algorithms , the Center-of-Gravity (CoG), weighted CoG (WCoG) and Intensity Weighted Centroid (IWC), as well as those accuracies for various extended and elongated spots. In addition, we compared the reconstructed image data from those three algorithms with theoretical results, and proved that WCoG and IWC are the best wave front reconstruction algorithms for extended and elongated spot among all the algorithms.

The angle between slant and azimuth axes is 45 degrees in slant-mount telescopes, which use the slant rotation to replace altitude movement in traditional mounts. The circular motion can achieve more smooth driving in altitude direction, and can effectively overcome problems in traditional mounts such as vibrations around the zenith. It is a hot topic in researches of current astronomical instruments. While the vertical displacement of the structure is composed by circle rotation of the slant axis, which causes displacements of the two direction coupled. Moreover, the slant rotation can also leads to the revolving movement of CCD images of the tracking system. These two problems bring great challenges to the slant mount driving. In this paper, based on a slant mount, we establish accurate mathematical model of the drive system to effectively compensate for the revolving movement of the image field, decompose in real time the deviation of vertical and horizontal directions by the decoupling algorithm, and design the control system using FPGA to carry out testing experiments. We strive to solve the displacement coupling and the image revolving movement problem, and thus provide a feasible technical support for driving control of slant mounts.

The surface error correction ability is one of the important indicators to measure the performance of the active support system. In this paper, the correction force algorithm for the active support system of 1.2m thin meniscus mirror is introduced. Based on this algorithm, a simulation analysis is made. The simulation results show that the 1.2m active support system has excellent correction ability for Zernike polynomials term 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11, and has a good effect on the Zernike polynomials term 7 and 8.

Solar observations are performed over an extended field of view (FoV) and the isoplanatic patch which conventional adaptive optics (AO) provides diffraction limited resolution is a severe limitation. Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) can be used to extend the corrected FoV of AO system. Compared to AO, MCAO which usually utilizes a wide-field Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor to control multiple deformable mirrors(DMs) is more complicated. Because the Sun is an extended object, correlation algorithms are applied to detect gradients in solar MCAO system. Moreover, due to the fast evolving daytime seeing conditions and the fact that much science has to be done at visible wavelengths, a very high closed-loop bandwidth is also required. The computation and delay development of the real-time controller (RTC) in solar MCAO system is more challenging than that in night-time MCAO system. This paper reviews the solar MCAO techniques and systems in the world, especially emphasizes the framework and implementation of the RTC. The development of MCAO in China is also introduced. An outlook of the RTC for the solar MCAO system in development is given.

In high-power solid-state laser facility (SG-III), focusing laser beams into the target center with precision better than 50 microns (RMS) is dependent on the stringent specifications of thousands of large-aperture transport mirror units and is a huge challenge on the surface aberration control of mirrors. The current mirror’s mounting techniques with screw fastening loads has several engineering conundrums – low control precision for loads (higher scatter even~±30%), and low assembly-rectification efficiency (~100 screws). To improve the current screw-fastening method, a new-style flexure supports method, which has a wonderful performance on uniform control of the external loads and only uses ~30 screws, is proposed to mount the mirror (size: 610mm×440mm×85mm). With theoretical modeling and FEM analysis, the impacts of mounting loads on mirror’s surface aberrations are analyzed and discussed in detail, and the flexure supports system is designed. Finally, with experimental research and case studies, the proposed flexure supports method shows a powerful performance on even control precision of external loads with scatter even less than ±10%, which is a promising mounting process to replace the threaded fasteners mounting the large-aperture optics. These improvements can lay a foundation for mounting process consistency, robustness, and assembly-rectification efficiency of large optical component.

Interface testing for opto-electric tracking system is one important work to assure system running performance, aiming to verify the design result of every electronic interface matching the communication protocols or not, by different levels. Opto-electric tracking system nowadays is more complicated, composed of many functional units. Usually, interface testing is executed between units manufactured completely, highly depending on unit design and manufacture progress as well as relative people. As a result, it always takes days or weeks, inefficiently. To solve the problem, this paper promotes an efficient and simple interface testing equipment for opto-electric tracking system, consisting of optional interface circuit card, processor and test program. The hardware cards provide matched hardware interface(s), easily offered from hardware engineer. Automatic code generation technique is imported, providing adaption to new communication protocols. Automatic acquiring items, automatic constructing code architecture and automatic encoding are used to form a new program quickly with adaption. After simple steps, a standard customized new interface testing equipment with matching test program and interface(s) is ready for a waiting-test system in minutes. The efficient and simple interface testing equipment for opto-electric tracking system has worked for many opto-electric tracking system to test entire or part interfaces, reducing test time from days to hours, greatly improving test efficiency, with high software quality and stability, without manual coding. Used as a common tool, the efficient and simple interface testing equipment for opto-electric tracking system promoted by this paper has changed traditional interface testing method and created much higher efficiency.

For large astronomical telescope system based on adaptive optics(AO), the correcting ability of the wavefront processor in real time is the critical factor to the target observation. However, when we are observing the faint-target, it will lead to the uneven energy distribution of the spot in the Hartmann sensor, even no spots in some of the sub-apertures. However, whether to control the adaptive optical system to close loop is mainly dependent upon the distribution of spot in the microlens of Hartmann sensor, so it is necessary to detect the existence of the sub-spot in the Hartmann sub-aperture. This paper presents an improved approach based on template matching and threshold processing to detect the sub-spot, it could judge whether there is spot in sub-aperture self-adaptively, then, we provide an intelligence foundation for adaptive optical system. In this paper, not only do we give the detailed implementation of the detection algorithm, but also test it with the reality observed images. The experimental results have shown that the proposed approach in the paper could accurately detect whether there is spot in Hartmann sub-aperture.

As laser has narrow transmitting beam and small divergence angle, the LOS (Line of Sight) stabilization of optical communication system is a primary precondition of laser communication links. Compound axis control is usually adopted in LOS stabilization of optical communication system, in which coarse tracking and fine tracking are included. Rejection against high frequency disturbance mainly depends on fine tracking LOS stabilization platform. Limited by different factors such as mechanical characteristic of the stabilization platform and bandwidth/noise of the sensor, the control bandwidth of LOS stabilization platform is restricted so that effective rejection of high frequency disturbance cannot be achieved as it mainly depends on the isolation characteristic of the platform itself. It is proposed by this paper that current loop may reject the effect of back-EMF. By adopting the method of electric control, high frequency isolation characteristic of the platform can be improved. The improvement effect is similar to increasing passive vibration reduction devices. Adopting the double closed loop control structure of velocity and current with the combining of the rejection effect of back-EMF caused by current loop is equivalent to reducing back-EMF coefficient, which can enhance the isolation ability of the LOS stabilization platform to high frequency disturbance.

This paper puts forward a electronic fault diagnose method focusing on large-diameter astronomical telescope’s armature winding, and ascertains if it is the resistance or inductance which is out of order. When it comes to armature winding’s electronic fault, give the angular position a step signal, and compare the outputs of five models of normal, larger-resistance, smaller-resistance, larger-inductance and smaller-inductance, so we can position the fault. Firstly, we ascertain the transfer function of the angular position to the armature voltage, to analysis the output of armature voltage when the angular position’s input is step signal. Secondly, ascertain the different armature currents’ characteristics after armature voltage pass through different armature models. Finally, basing on the characteristics, we design two strategies of resistance and inductance separately. The author use MATLAB/Simulink function to model and emulate with the hardware parameters of the 2.5m-caliber telescope, which China and France developed cooperatively for Russia. Meanwhile, the author add a white noise disturbance to the armature voltage, the result shows its feasibility under a certain sized disturbance.

Off-axis optical system has a wide application in space optics and remote detective area. The high surface shape accuracy can be ensured with the development of advanced manufacture technique. So the only condition which limits the wide application of off-axis optical system is how to realize the precise alignment of it. Based on a RC reflective optical system whose diameter is 400mm, the alignment method which combines the high resolution initial placement and computer-aided alignment is introduced. By designing a system which can measure the off-axis fabrication and off-axis angle precisely, the high resolution initial placement of off-axis mirror can be ensured with a measurement accuracy of ±0.05mm and ±10”. The good initial placement can give a good initial state, so the computer-aided model can be converged well. The experiment shows that a system which has a good initial placement could have a good wave aberration of 0.04λ after three times iteration adjustment.

Large flat mirrors play important roles in large aperture telescopes. However, they also introduce unpredictable problems. The surface errors created during manufacturing, testing, and supporting are all combined during measurement, thus making understanding difficult for diagnosis and treatment. Examining a high diameter-to-thickness ratio flat mirror, TMT M3MP, and its unexpected deformation during processing, we proposed a strain model of subsurface damage to explain the observed phenomenon. We designed a set of experiment, and checked the validity of our diagnosis. On that basis, we theoretical predicted the trend of this strain and its scale effect on Zerodur®, and checked the validity on another piece experimentally. This work guided the grinding-polishing process of M3MP, and will be used as reference for M3M processing as well.

For polishing the ultra-thin TMT M3MP, a polishing support system with 18 hydraulic supports (HS) is introduced. This work focuses on the designing and testing of these HSs. Firstly the design concept of HS system is discussed; then mechanical implementation of the HS structure is carried out, with special consideration of fluid cycling, work pressurization and the weight component. Afterward the piping installation and the de-gas process for the working fluid are implemented. Pressurization and stiffness are well checked before system integration for the single HS unit. Finally the support system is integrated for the polishing process.

Within Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) laser systems, many independent laser beams are required to be positioned on target with a very high degree of accuracy until shots are complete. Optical elements that are capable of moving a laser beam on the target must meet the pointing error budget. Optical elements are typically supported by systems which consist of mounts, mount frames, support structures, and foundation. The stability design for support systems in ICF laser have been developed based on the designing and evaluating experience of ShenGuangIII (SGIII). This paper will provide the methodology of position error budget. The stability allocation is developed for evaluating the performance of support systems when they are subjected to multiple sources of excitations that can cause the motion of optical elements during alignment procedures and before shots. The vibrational stability design considerations of support systems are discussed on the fundamental frequency, ambient random vibration, and modal damping. The support structures of optical elements are the relatively large and massive hybrid structure of reinforced concrete and steel frame or vessels. While the reinforced concrete portions provide optical elements stability, the steel portions afford design flexibility. Finite element analyses of ambient random vibration are typically performed to evaluate the vibrational stability performances of support systems. Finally, this paper describes the ambient random vibration and beam pointing error measurements of SGIII. The measurements show the support systems of SGIII meet design requirement. These information can be used on similar systems.

In ICF lasers, many independent laser beams are required to be positioned on target with a very high degree of accuracy during a shot. The target chamber provides a precision platform and datum reference for final optics assembly and target collimation and location system. The target chamber consists of shell with welded flanges, reinforced concrete pedestal, and lateral support structure. The field precision machining technology of target chamber in ICF lasers have been developed based on ShenGuangIII (SGIII). The same center of the target chamber is adopted in the process of design, fabrication, and alignment. The technologies of beam collimation and datum reference transformation are developed for the fabrication, positioning and adjustment of target chamber. A supporting and rotating mechanism and a special drilling machine are developed to bore the holes of ports. An adjustment mechanism is designed to accurately position the target chamber. In order to ensure the collimation requirements of the beam leading and focusing and the target positioning, custom-machined spacers are used to accurately correct the alignment error of the ports. Finally, this paper describes the chamber center, orientation, and centering alignment error measurements of SGIII. The measurements show the field precision machining of SGIII target chamber meet its design requirement. These information can be used on similar systems.

The wavefront distortion can directly influence on the optics quality of laser beam in ICF laser facility. The gravity is one of the major factors that cause the wavefront distortion. The back-support technology of the large aperture transport mirror has been developed to lessen the wavefront distortion caused by gravity. In the back-support technology, a joint structure between the mirror and the metal back-support has been developed. The requirement of joint is that the firm connection is realized with less wavefront distortion introduced. The adhesive structure and expanding mandrel structure have been analyzed and tested. The back-support of transport mirror in target area use the expanding mandrel for the reasons of the technics and fundamental frequency. The choice of material, the calculation force of clamp, the test of tensile, and the wavefront distortion analysis of transport mirror have been developed. The results show that the expanding mandrel can be used for the back-support of the large aperture transport mirror.

M3M (Mirror 3 Mirror) of TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope) project is a 3.5m×2.5m×0.1m solid flat elliptical mirror. M3MP is a 1/4 prototype of M3M serving as a pathfinder for M3M. Fabrication and testing of M3MP were carried out based on planned sketch for M3M established in the past 2 years. Technology including polishing strategy, on site vertical Fizeau sub-aperture interfere test, scanning pentaprism system and dual-supporting system were tested in the fabrication of M3MP. This paper give a brief introduction of the work on M3MP and some of results.

The PSS (pentaprism scanning system) has advantages of simple structure, needless of reference flat, be able of on-site testing, etc, it plays an important role in large flat reflective mirror’s manufacturing, especially the high accuracy testing of low order aberrations. The PSS system measures directly the slope information of the tested flat surface. Aimed at the unique requirement of M3MP, which is the prototype mirror of the tertiary mirror in TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope) project, this paper analyzed the slope distribution of low order aberrations, power and astigmatism, which is very important in the manufacturing process of M3MP. Then the sample route lines of PSS are reorganized and new data process algorism is implemented. All this work is done to improve PSS’s measure sensitivity of power and astigmatism, for guiding the manufacturing process of M3MP.

Operating posture of complicated opto-mechanical structures critically matter gravity-induced distortion of the structure, and further affect optical performance. With the aim to solve this problem, determination of operating postures of a supporting system of a KDP crystal is studied. A concept of key stiffness component is firstly proposed in this paper, as far as the authors are concerned, taking advantage of which gravity-induced distortion of the supporting system is analyzed, as well as the rotation of the KDP crystal that is cased by the distortion of the supporting system. Furthermore, effects of operating postures of the supporting system on the distortion of the supporting system and the rotation of the KDP crystal are investigated. It is demonstrated that key stiffness component is of great insignificance to distortion of the supporting system, and it could function as a guidance in determination of operating posture of the supporting system.

This paper presents the design of a 2 degree-of-freedom (DOF) rotation flexure mechanism (RFM) that could be utilized as the pivot for the mirror sub-assembly (MSA) of transport mirrors in the target area of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) laser systems. The hybrid spring system is established as the analytical model of the 2-DOF RFM. With the suitable matrix in coordinate transformation, the overall compliance matrix is developed to reveal the compliance property of the mechanism and the compliance equations are obtained. The analytical results obtained from the compliance equations are validated by means of finite element analysis (FEA) with the accuracy of 1%. The compliance property and design tradeoffs of the 2-DOF RFM are discussed with the compliance equations. The 2-DOF RFM for the MSA of transport mirrors of ShenGuangIII (SGIII) facility is designed and optimized. Then, the MSA is modeled and analyzed by FEA. The analysis result shows that the 2-DOF RFM is feasible for the MSA design.

There is a race to develop spaceborne high-resolution video cameras since Skybox’s success. For low manufacture cost and adaption to micro and small satellites, it is urgent to design and develop compact long focal length optical system with not only small volume, light weight and easy implementation, and also two dimensional field. Our focus is on the Coaxial Three-Mirror Anastigmat (CTMA) with intermediate real image for its no need outer hood and compactness and for its easy alignment, low-order aspheric surface and low cost. The means to deflect its image space beam for accessibility of focal plane array detector and to eliminate its inherent secondary obscuration from its primary mirror central hole and deflection flat mirror is discussed. The conditions to satisfy the above-mentioned requirements are presented with our derived relationship among its optical and structural parameters based on Gaussian optics and geometry. One flat mirror near its exit pupil can be used to deflect its image plane from its axis. And its total length can be decreased with other some flat mirrors. Method for determination of its initial structure with the derived formulae is described through one design example. Furthermore, optimized CTMA without secondary obscuration and with effective focal length (EFFL) of 10m is reported. Its full field, F-number and total length are respectively 1.1°×1°, F/14.3, and one eighth of its EFFL. And its imaging quality is near diffraction limit.